1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system manufacture, and more particularly to a system and method for information handling system image management and deployment.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Enterprises and individuals have come to rely upon information handling systems for an ever-increasing number and diversity of tasks. Enterprises in particular face challenges in purchasing and maintaining information handling systems that are compatible with each other. The degree of challenge faced by enterprises tends to increase with the number of systems deployed since older systems are typically replaced gradually over time with newer systems that have updated hardware and software components. One technique used by enterprises to maintain compatible information handling systems is to maintain one or more images of an operating system and applications for use in the enterprise's information handling systems. Imaging is a technique that alleviates the time and effort associated with installing an operating system and set of applications on an information handling system by keeping a copy of the operating system and applications in an installed condition for copying to other information handling system hard disk drives. Conventional imaging uses a source information handling system that is configured with the operating system and applications to take a snapshot of the source system's hard disk drive or other permanent memory, such as a solid state drive. The image is essentially a copy of the source system's hard disk drive minus system-specific to the source, such as a system name or system-specific hardware drivers. The image is deployed to new information handling systems by copying the image to the new system and configuring the system for system-specific components.
Although imaging simplifies information handling system manufacture, a number of difficulties remain with the use of images by enterprises. One difficulty is that an image must typically be updated each time a hardware driver is updated or an operating system patch, hot fix or security update issues. One approach to addressing this difficulty is to host an image development environment at an information handling system manufacturer that an enterprise accesses to prepare and maintain images so that the manufacturer can keep the image updated. Alternatively, an enterprise can maintain a platform independent image within the enterprise's environment so that hardware components are maintained separately by a manufacturer of the information handling systems. A difficulty with these approaches is that a platform-independent image created in an enterprise environment does not readily transfer to an image maintained by a manufacturer in a manufacture environment that includes hardware-specific components. Other difficulties include a lack of real-time build and verification of an image, a slow build process such as where an image is built by installation of applications on a physical system, limited operating system support, limited usability for server information handling systems and maintenance of non-critical patches.